This is an email sent by Pat Condray to member Jim Butters commenting on an Avaloncon survey that had been sent out to many folks. There are a lot of good points in which I felt the readership might be interested.
Dear Jim
Unless I missed it you didn't stipulate the source of the survey. At a guess it would likely have been Don Greenwood, who launched AVALONCON in imitation (however poor) of HISTORICON, and, in fact started it at the PENN HARRIS after we outgrew it. Don played a key role, along with Dick Bryant, in smoothing over the cracks during various HMGS/ ATLANTICON negotiations relative to our participation in ORIGINS in 82 and 85. In the long run the intransigence and megalomania of Wes Coates overcame those obstacles and we agreed to disagree. Had their reldtionship been better thought out it might have achieved the status of a decent "Good Cop/Bad Cop" routine.
Don, if it is indeed Don, was interested in preserving the tie because it was clearly sound business. However, he seemed over the years to remain convinced that god meant for games to be played with cardboard tidily winks, and miniatures games (notably NAPOLEON'S BATTLES) were heretical even when profitable.
As I understand the story, the original plan for the take over involved retaining a cadre of AH employees including Greenwood would continue AVALONCON and the distribution of most AH titles. The principal owner(s) of AH somehow upped the ante and HASBRO, having paid more than the company was probably worth, decided to pull the plug and focus on 6 "family game* titles, neglecting most else and firing everyone.
At the time AVALONCON was started, Bob Coggins wrote several newsletter articles comparing the fate of the Board Gamers. who trusted implicitly in the industry, chiefly AH, to support their hobby, and Historical Miniatures Gamers. who had taken the initiative and founded HMGS to support ours. He thought the board gamers, who attended meetings with the Dotts and Don Greenwood (whom Coggins labeled King, Prince, and Duke-no relation to Siefried) were being foolish and short sighted trust the company with their interests, in this he was clearly correct.
There are many dissimilarities between historical miniature gaming and board gaming. Our hobby shares an interest in military history and gaming with the tidily wink pushers. However, the interest was usually inspired by toys and models to some degree. Rules evolved to animate the figures, and were initially a spin off on the children's toy industry. Resilience in the face of industrial collapse (e.g. When Britain's dropping painted led figure lines in 1956) and a willingness to improvise and go it alone have been characteristic of our hobby. HMGS has given it a tremendous boost. However, the HMGS convention program has led rather than followed the industry.
The retail hobby industry has always been forced to follow fads. People who play with toy soldiers have tended to be indifferent to them.
I won't say that the fate of AVALONCON is no cause for panic. A bit of adrenalin once in a while is probably useful. However, it doesn't seem to me to justify a major course correction for HMGS.
From Theron Kuntz, off email:
Maj. Bill:
Is the N. Market ms satisfactory? I had noticed some grammatical errors but they are minor. I still could not rate the integrity of the Union artillery for morale purposes. Carlin's bty. had performed the worst of the artillery bde., but his bty had been constantly under Confederate fire and threat of assault. Although von Kleiser's bty. performed excellently throughout the battle, the Confederate charge caused lost cannons, drafts, and manpower. Dupont's btry. is U.S. Regular arty. and should nominally be rated average to high when assessing the integrity and certitude of this bty. in relation to the rule's dispositional and consequential sources.
For the queen of battle, 4 coys. of the 12th W. Va. refused a direct order from their commander to protect the Union's right wing btys. They were, no doubt, reprimanded for such critical insubordination. Also, the 51st Confederate regt. from Wharton's bde. performed unreliably under considerable constraint, yet the other formations had done miracles.
Some textual accounts denote that there were only 4 Union btrys. available during the battle. Other information has confirmed that there were only 22 cannon at the battle. As an alternative, therefore, players may choose to have the 22 cannon variation, that being 3-6 cannon btrys. and 1-4 cannon bty. You might notice that the artillery manpower levels for the Confederate arty. are very low, with the exception of the Cadet btry. which has 50 crew available for its two cannon. Certain textual accounts had demonstrated that the Confederate arty. really had some problem or deficiency with the exception here being, maybe, McClanahan's btry. Yet the Confederate blys. are constantly relocating and the artillery fire from the Union line could be thick at times. But the original casualties show higher Union casualties. In the end, though, based on the strengths of 6500 for Union combatants and 5150 for Confederate combatants, the disseminated totals synthesized quite well.
As for commander capabilities, I would definitely rate a Breckinridge higher for intiative and competence when compared to a Sigel. And Imboden, although quite tactically- minded for ambushes, doesn't really assist his commander substantially, except being within cannon shot of Sigel's formation, lending the 62nd to Echols' bde., and pursuing. But Stahel compares no better, yet the "position" of cavalry bdes is more supportive of the Union's operations.
There's no FOW conceivable for this, but friction appears in several battle forms: low wind allowed smoke from the discharge of weapons to linger in the lines; there was periodic raining and some very heavy; the ground was muddy, slippery, and too soft for effective operations; the terrain at the battle site was naturally undulating, forming knolls, hillocks, and swells for defense and protection; ammunition wagons, except for ' caissons, could not be brought forward because of the difficulty of traversing the terrain outside the main routes of transportation lines (This may explain why McLaughlin's bty. was centrally located along the north-south turnpike after the village had fallen to the Confederates), making it impossible for the infantry to continue assaults until resupplied; there may be a hint of operational dis-unity between the Confederate infantry and cavalry arms, but this may have been offset by the incompetence and the strategy clung to by the Union generals; Army Effectiveness (AE) levels may be lower than normal because both sides had constantly marched to the battle site in the rain and mud (This may explain why the Union generals had abandoned the battle with less than 25% casualties), and, without doubt, the battlefield's conditions had already seriously modified the Combat Effectiveness (CE) of the fighting formations.
I certainly hope this will help our fellow wargamers out there. I had considerable entertainment researching the New Market battle. some of it rather intensive. There are other characteristics left to consider, such as weaponry, uniforms, standards. I understand, Bill, that there are other amateurs that would happily respond to filling this void. In any case, my efforts to enhance the knowledge about New Market for Historical Miniature Wargames, for those who want ACW themes, are substantial. Good Luck!
Also from Theron off email:
Dear Maj. Bill:
My first ms to the METAWARGAME PRIMER is finished. It is entitled: METAWARGAME, HMDS, PART ONE' written by myself. The contents of the ms offers new concepts for eliminating old reurring structures and idiosyncrasies for Historical Miniature Simulations (HMS), introducing new technological methods for possible use, discoursing and critiquing problem areas in rule inconsistency, offering new terminologies, and the elemental study of Metastrategy as required for the HMW game space.
The ms is designed to be thought provoking not only for novices, but also for the "old gronards." Eight pages of ms is accompanied with eight pages of nine figures, B&W illustrations that further explain the text. If any members are interested in this small production, Bill, I will have to charge $5 for its copy print, folder, and first class mailing. If someone would like to review some of its pages, I can send a few along in such a case. HMDS means Historical Miniature Design System! Best.
His vitals are: Kuntz, Theron, tok01@gnofn.org
Another email from Theron:
Maj. Bill:
In previous transmission, I had informed you about THE METAWARGAME PRIMER, the first in a series of discussions and developments aimed at improving Historical Miniature Wargaming. It is 16 pages long (8 pages of text and 8 pages of illustration), covering topics. such as the components of a HMW scenario, optional playing surface styles, the Temporal Transition Zone, Line of Sight discriminations, the abstract level, substitution, and Metastrategy that is associated to Historical Miniature Simulations. The following are abstracted from the introduction and sections of the manuscript:
Welcome to THE METAWARGAME PRIMER! TMP introduces the Historical Miniature Wargamer to the arrival of METAWARGAME, a quantum method of researching, understanding, conceptualizing and developing structures for Historical Miniature Simulation.
TMP initializes this quanta domain by illustrating recurring idiosyncrasies and outlining new technologies--to access the problem and to offer theoretical concepts or ideologies for perusal and edification.
The primary focus of METAWARGAME, therefore, is the improvement-- through finer understanding of HMS's components--of applied Wargames. This, automatically, underscores Wargame's optimization.
MW will follow us into the new Century, an era of new thought, critique, and design for better representing rules and historical miniature gaming.
Dear Bill,
Many thanks for continuing to send me copies of the HMGS magazine, I realIN I do enjoy reading it and it brings back so many fond memories of tiny times across the pond when I see little items, like Jim Birdseve advertising another Siege of Augusta. I get nostalgic about the time we had there. The memories are mixed - the games were excellent but the so-called English pub stocked appalling beer' I recall a wonderful Howard Whitehouse 'Viking Raid' (I do hope the guy whose longship I nicked has forgiven me) and an exciting 'Siege of Basing House' set up by a very keen and dapper chap who couldn*t quite believe I had a close mate who runs the place these days. I also remember the social life too was superb, except I didn't think the curry was worth driving a mile for, let alone the forty odd we managed to clock up. Next time you are in England, let me take you for a real curry.
Where is all this leading to? Well .. Richard Ellis, the chap who takes the photos for Miniature Wargames, and I are plotting a short trip over to your side some time next year. Hopefully we will be taking in a the battlefields and the occasional re-enactment and I thought if we could tie into a convention for a weekend it would certainly be a highlight: especially if I could renew old acquaintances. Do you recommend any in particular? Are there any you would honestly say don't bother? I'd recommend the November Rivermead Show at Newbury as one of our most interesting and less pressurised- but then again as my old article said, yours are different from ours. Can I tap your expertise?
As a return favour, I enclose an article for the magazine. It too is based upon memories and nostalgia but it should be the type of thing all wargamers can relate to, and should stir a few reminiscences.
By the way, I left the Royal Armouries sometime ago. They wanted me to work in Leeds. Not the same as going to work in the Tower of London every day and about 180 miles north. Not far in your eyes perhaps but to us Brits, Yorkshire is another planet. I These davs I spend mv time doing some fireelance lecturing and writing. My last major book is out, 'The Fighting Man', a Study in words and pictures of UK re-enactment groups of the men, weapons and tactics of soldiers from the Napoleon Wars to WWII. I was told it was coming stateside, seen it? Hopefully another two volumes will follow Rome to the Renaissance and Revolution and Rebellion (ours and yours of course).
I have not seen Don for about a month but he was still in fine form when last we met, rattling off the stories and polishing off the ale. I expect we will be having the usual round of mayhem later this month in France, when Doti, Roger and Richard are all coming in the Battlefields Trust Conference. I am running in Crecy. It was going to be a simple admin job, but Robert Hardy dropped out at the last minute and I had to put down for taking people over the ground. I got a big double-decker coach and it is round Blanchetacque, Crecy and Agincourt complete with a big banquet lined up. Do you think any of your mates would be interested in doing something similar one year (seems a sharne to use all that organisation only once!)
Anyway, nice to 'talk' to you. Do give my best to all who remember me, and I hope to see you in '99.
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